Judith Lumley Centre, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria3000, Australia.
School of Nursing & Midwifery, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria3086, Australia.
Public Health Nutr. 2020 Nov;23(16):3005-3015. doi: 10.1017/S136898002000124X. Epub 2020 Jun 30.
The Ringing Up About Breastfeeding earlY (RUBY) randomised controlled trial (RCT) found that a telephone-based peer volunteer support intervention increased breast-feeding duration in a setting with high breast-feeding initiation. This sub-study of the RUBY RCT describes the motivation, preparation and experiences of volunteers who provided the peer support intervention.
An online survey was completed by 154 (67 %) volunteers after ceasing volunteering.
Volunteers provided peer support to primiparous women (n 574) who birthed at one of three public hospitals in Melbourne, Australia, between February 2013 and December 2015.
Volunteers (n 230) had themselves breastfed for at least 6 months and received 4 h of training for the role.
The median number of mothers supported was two (range 1-11), and two-thirds of respondents supported at least one mother for 6 months. Volunteers were motivated by a strong desire to support new mothers to establish and continue breast-feeding. Most (93 %) considered the training session adequate. The majority (60 %) reported following the call schedule 'most of the time', but many commented that 'it depends on the mother'. Overall, 84 % of volunteers were satisfied with the role and reported that the experience was enjoyable (85 %) and worthwhile (90 %). Volunteers agreed that telephone support for breast-feeding was valued by women (88 %) and that the programme would be effective in helping women to breastfeed (93 %).
These findings are important for those developing similar peer support programmes in which recruiting volunteers and developing training requirements are an integral and recurrent part of volunteer management.
“早期哺乳响铃（RUBY）”随机对照试验（RCT）发现，基于电话的同伴志愿者支持干预措施在母乳喂养初始率较高的环境中增加了母乳喂养的持续时间。本项关于 RUBY RCT 的子研究描述了提供同伴支持干预措施的志愿者的动机、准备和经验。
在停止志愿服务后，有 154 名（67%）志愿者完成了在线调查。
志愿者为澳大利亚墨尔本的三家公立医院中分娩的初产妇（n=574）提供同伴支持。
志愿者（n=230）自己母乳喂养至少 6 个月，并接受了 4 小时的角色培训。
中位数支持的母亲数量为 2 个（范围 1-11），三分之二的受访者至少支持一位母亲母乳喂养 6 个月。志愿者强烈希望支持新妈妈建立和继续母乳喂养。大多数（93%）人认为培训课程足够。大多数（60%）人表示“大部分时间”都遵循电话随访时间表，但许多人表示“这取决于母亲”。总的来说，84%的志愿者对这一角色感到满意，并报告说该体验令人愉快（85%）且有价值（90%）。志愿者们一致认为，电话支持母乳喂养受到了女性的重视（88%），该项目将有效帮助女性进行母乳喂养（93%）。
这些发现对于那些正在开发类似的同伴支持计划的人来说非常重要，因为招募志愿者和制定培训要求是志愿者管理的一个组成部分和反复出现的部分。
